PARCO ARCHEOLOGICO DI HIMERA

Today, close to a coastal industrial complex, the archaeological site of Himera reveals the oldest Greek city existing on this part of the island, and one of the largest necropolises of ancient Greece, with nearly 13,000 burials.

History. According to the historian Thucydides, Himera was founded in 648 BC by Greek settlers of Calcidian and Doric origin from Zankle (now Messina). The city was strategically built on a hill overlooking the sea, between Palermo and Cefalù, and was named after the river that supplied it with water and on which commercial ships entered the Sicilian lands.
After years of prosperity and relative peace, Himera was attacked by the Carthaginians in 480 BC and definitively destroyed by Hannibal in 408 BC. The huge necropolis to the west of the site, on either side of a probable coastal road, has a mass grave of about a hundred soldiers dating from those bloody times of battle. All were built between the 7th and^5th centuries BC.
The first research in the 1930s brought to light this necropolis and the Temple of Victory. However, it was only in 1963 that most of the site was excavated by the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Palermo, including the inhabited part and the sanctuary of Athena in the upper city.

Visit. At present, the areas of the Temple of Victory and the upper town are open to the public, offering the visitor a panorama of the Greek city in the Archaic and Classical periods: monumental buildings, urban planning and housing culture. The urban layout of the city is very interesting. Two regular layouts existed, with orthogonal roads dividing the blocks. A special place was reserved for the sanctuaries: that of Athena, in the north-eastern part of the upper city, and the Temple of Victory in the lower city. The whole city was fortified. The oldest museum, the Antiquarium, is located in the upper city (offerings from the Temple of Athena, everyday objects, a lion-headed chapter from the Temple of Victory, vases and objects from the necropolis, a polychrome mosaic of African tradition found in the Roman villa of Settefrati, etc.) The historical video on Himera is well done. The new Pirro Marconi Lower Town Museum is very well laid out and lit. Six rooms and an old mill display ceramics, vases, skeletons, etc.